Campaigners are calling on immigration minister Des Browne for a "truce" on the deportation of asylum seekers from Dover Removal Centre during Christmas.

Their campaign is backed by Canterbury Cllr Wes Mclachlan who wants two Afghan students to be allowed to stay in Kent.

"We want them to enjoy Christmas like other teenagers without the fear of being snatched and deported," he said.

Members of the Kent Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers are staging a protest in Whitstable on Saturday.

Petition organised

Campaigners have said many people are detained and deported over the holiday season, because legal assistance and community support is not available.

They will be asking Christmas shoppers in the seaside town to sign a petition to support their campaign.

They want Abrahim Rahimi and Amin Buratee to be allowed to stay in the country and continue their education.

"Both were detained in Dover Removal Centre and were to be deported to Afghanistan," a spokesman said.

He said Amin had been granted temporary admission, while Abraham's deportation notice had only been deferred.

The campaign spokesman claimed there are at least 20 young people in schools in Kent and a large number in further education who could face deportation when their Exceptional Leave to Remain expires on 31 December.

Family lost

Abrahim came to the UK after his father, a general in the communist-era regime, was killed by the Taleban.

He also lost a brother and an uncle at the hands of the regime, which was deposed after a US-led invasion in 2001.

Abrahim is a Shiite Muslim and a member of the Hazara tribe, members of which are still being attacked by the Taleban.

Amin Buratee arrived in the UK in 2002 after members of his family, including his father, had been killed.